Hat hanger and identifying means for hat



Nov. 20, 1956 H. FITZPATRICK HAT HANGER AND IDENCIFYING MEANS FOR HAT Filed April 12, 1954 INVENTOR. HENRY F/ 7 Z PAT R/C/f 24770F/VEVJ United States Patent HAT HANGER AND IDENTIFYING MEANS FOR HAT Henry Fitzpatrick, Hayward, Calif. Application April 12, 1954, Serial No. 422,325

3 Claims. (Cl. 224-) This invention relates to a hat hanger for a visor type hat having an emblem over the visor with an emblem post extending through said hat and above said visor securing the emblem to the hat.

Hats of the above type, which are also known in the armed forces of the country as service or garrison hats, and which are used by others such as police officers, firemen, etc., have an elevated front portion of the crown, above the visor, and against the forwardly facing side of which the emblem is held by a threaded post extending through said portion, and a nut is secured on said post inside the hat. This elevated front portion of the crown provides an enclosed space between the head of the wearer of the hat and said front portion when the hat is on the head.

This space is utilized in the present invention for the hanger so that the hanger does not engage the head of the wearer nor in any way affect the sweat band since said space and the emblem post are all above said band.

One of the objects of this invention is the provision of a hanger for a hat of the above type that can quickly be swung into the space above described when the hat is to be placed on the head, and that can also be swung to a position for projecting from the hat to a position for suspending the hat from any suitable support.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a hanger that is also adapted for use in identifying the owner of the hat, and which hanger can be extended to engage over the visor of the hat to plainly indicate the owner when the hat is supported on a table, hat rack or other horizontal support.

Heretofore efforts have been made to provide a hanger for a hat, and since the hanger must be extensible to a sufficient distance outwardly of the hat to engage a support, the hangers have usually been connected with the hat by a flexible band, or thread so that the support engaging part must in some way be hooked to the sweat band (thus altering its fit) or else it will engage the head, causing irritation and discomfort, when the hat is on the head.

One of the objects of this invention is the provision of a hanger that is resilient, stretchable under yieldable elastic tension, and that is self supporting against bending under the influence of gravity when supported from one end only in any position thus making it possible for the hanger to be supported from one end only in the space within the elevated forward portion of the crown of a visor type hat so it will not droop or fall by gravity onto the head of the wearer, and which hanger may be extended from the hat for engaging a support when the wearer wishes to suspend the hat from a hanger.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the description and in the drawings.

in the drawings, Fig. 1 is a part sectional and part elevational view showing the hanger in the hat when the hat is on the head.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the hat from the outside show ing the hanger used as an identifying means, the hanger 2,771,230 Patented Nov. 20, 1956 being indicated in dash lines and the identifying means, which is also part of the hanger, being shown in full line in engagement wth the visor.

Fig. 3 shows the hat hanger used for suspending the hat from the belt of the wearer.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the hanger and the identifying means separate from the hat.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of the hanger of Fig. 4 as seen at right angles to the latter view.

In detail, referring to Figs. 4, 5, the hanger comprises an elongated tightly wound helical spring. Such a spring is extensible to a substantial length, but when retracted to normal length, as shown in the drawings in which the adjacent coils are tightly against each other, the spring is relatively rigid against bending, and will be self supporting against bending under the influence of gravity when supported from one end only, and when the spring is held horizontal or anywhere between horizontal and vertical from said one end only.

Rigidly secured to one end of the spring 1 is a flat sided eye or loop (Fig. 4) having a shank 3 that is secured within the open end of the spring. This shank may be held by merely slightly expanding the end and then inserting the shank and permitting it to contract around the shank, or it may be held in any other suitable manner. However, the eye portion should be rigid with the spring so that it will be capable of supporting the spring extending horizontally from the eye or in any other direction.

The opposite end of the spring 1 has a clip, generally designated 4, secured thereto. This clip, as illustrated, comprises a flat plate formed to generally U-shape providing opposed legs 5, 6 (Figs. 4, 5). Leg 6 may be slightly longer than leg 5 and is apertured to receive loop 7 formed by an extension of the wire of the spring.

Plate or clip 5 is preferably rectangular in shape, so that each leg 5, 6 is also rectangular, with parallel edges along the open side of'the U. The aperture for the loop 7 of the spring is centrally between the ends of the free edge of leg 6 that is along the open side of said U.

The side of leg 5 that faces away from the leg 6 may have the name of the owner of the hanger (and hat) inscribed thereon or the marginal portion of said side along its three free edges could be folded over the body of the plate to provide guides for a card bearing said name. However, by engraving or stamping the name of the wearer on the flat outer side of leg 5 it will become a part of the clip and cannot be lost or easily defaced.

The visor type hat, already briefly described, has a visor 10, a crown 11, and the forward portion of the crown is held elevated by a conventional grommet 12 (Fig. l) inside'the crown thus providing a space 13 enclosed by said elevated forward portion of the crown and the head 14 of the wearer, which space is above the sweat band.

The forward side 15 of the elevated front side has a stiffener 16 therein for holding said side fairly stiff, and an emblem 17 is held against the outer front surface of side 15 by an emblem post 18 that extends through said front side and into space 13. This post is threaded for a nut 19 that tightens the emblem against the front surface of the front side 15 When the nut is tightened.

In installing the hanger, the nut 19 is first removed and eye 2 is placed on the post, with the latter extending through the eye opening. A washer 20 may be on the post between stiffener 16 and said eye 2, and nut 19 may then be replaced and tightened against the eye. The nut and washer 20 provide friction surfaces in engagement with opposite sides of the eye so that the eye may be swung about the axis of the post to any desired position and thefriction between the washer, nut,'and the 'eye will hold the eye in any position to which it is swung. Obviously the spring 1 and clip 4 will also swing with the eye and can be supported horizontally or in any position between vertical and horizontal.

As seen in Fig. 1 the spring extends laterally and slightly upwardly from the post 18 and within space 13 well above the head 14 of the wearer. Since the clip 4 is swingable on loop 7, it may depend from the loop when the spring is swung to the position indicated in Fig. 1.

When the hat is removed from the head and is to be laid on a table or horizontal shelf or hat rack the spring is swung about the axis of post 18 to extend downwardly therefrom and the clip is drawn out (stretching the spring 1) and turned so that leg 5 extends over the forward side of the visor at the edge (Fig. 2), the leg 6 being against the inner side. The spring will resiliently hold the clip to the visor in the position shown in Fig. 2, and the spring will readily bend to extend along the inner side of the visor from the sweat band. Anyone seeing the hat can easily see the name 22 inscribed or carried on the flat outer side of leg 5.

When the hat is to be suspended from a support, the spring 1 is swung to about the same position for hooking the clip over the visor, but instead, the clip is hooked over belt 23 of the wearer (Fig. 3) or over any other suitable support that may be engaged by the clip. In this connection it may be stated that the GI chairs used by members of the Army, Air Corps, etc. have seat frames with an upwardly directed free edge below the seat over which the clip is adapted to extend, thus making use of the clip convenient for suspending the hat from the chair.

From the description above given it is seen that the present invention comprises a combination hanger and identifying means, so that the hat may be conveniently suspended from any suitable support or the hat can readily be identified when lying on a table, hat shelf or rack. Also, when the hat is worn the hanger can be swung to a position completely out of the way and within the hat in a position in which it will not contact or in any way interfere with the sweat band or with the head of the wearer. The self supporting feature of the spring enables the spring to hold the clip away from the head even when the spring is horizontal and is supported solely from the end opposite the clip. This, together with the fact that the spring can easily be stretched without undue force, is the result of the adjacent coils of the spring being together so they hold each other in coaxial relationship.

The use of a spring enables it to be sufliciently short to be retracted into space 13, and yet to be extended to suspend the hat or to enable the clip to engage the visor as seen in Fig. 2.

I claim:

1. A hat hanger for a visor type hat having an emblem over the visor with an emblem post extending through said hat above said visor and into a space above said visor and above the head of a wearer comprising: a substantially Vshaped clip providing a pair of spaced opposed legs, a member formed with an opening adapted to pass said emblem post therethrough, an elongated uniformly wound helical spring extending from said clip to said member and secured at one end thereof to one leg of said clip and at the other end to said member with said spring terminating at its ends substantially at said clip and member whereby said member is adapted to yieldably flex uniformly in any desired direction at any point along its length under a bending force applied to said spring, said spring being relatively short with its adjacent coils in engagement with each other when said spring is collapsed, to enable it to fit within said space above the head of the wearer of such cap and the length of said spring being suflicient to enable sufiicient expansion of said spring to permit full withdrawal of said clip from said cap and past its visor where said member is secured to said post, said close engagement of said adjacent coils of .said spring providing a support for holding said spring substantially straight when supported horizontally from one end only, said clip being a flat piece of material with said spring pivotally connected to said one leg to enable said clip to swing relative to said spring to dilferent positions, and the outer side of said other leg providing a flat surface adapted to carry the name of the wearer of the hat, said legs being spaced for receiving the visor of such hat therebetween at any point along the edge of the latter with said outer side at the upper side of such visor.

2. In combination with a hat having a visor and a crown in which the front portion above the visor is elevated to extend substantially above the head of the wearer providing a space within said portion and above said head, and an emblem post extending through said front portion for securing an emblem against the outer side of said portion above said visor; an elongated helical spring, a flat member secured to said post against the inside of said portion, a substantially U-shaped clip of flat material providing a pair of spaced opposed, flat sided legs, an elongated uniformly wound helical spring extending from said clip to said member and secured at one of its ends to one of the legs of said clip and at the other end to said member, the overall length of said spring, clip and member being within the limits of said space radially outwardly of said post whereby said spring and clip will be concealed within said space, the adjacent coils of said spring being in engagement with each other when said spring is collapsed for holding said spring substantially straight for the major portion of its length when held horizontally from said other end thereof only and from said member, and to enable substantial longitudinal expansion of said spring sufiicient to enable said clip to be fully withdrawn from said space and past said visor for positioning said visor between the legs of said clip at any point along the edge of said visor and for yieldably holding said clip on said visor with said one of the legs of said clip disposed below said visor and with the other leg disposed above said visor and said other leg having its exposed upper surface adapted to carry identifying indicia.

3. In a'hat having a generally laterally projecting visor having an outer free edge and a crown connected with the opposite inner edge thereof and elevated substantially above said visor providing a space therein positioned and above the head of a wearer when said hat is on said head, said crown having a forward wall defining the forward side of said space and hat, a substantially U-shaped clip providing a pair of spaced opposed legs, said clip being releasably positioned over the free outer edge of said visor with one leg of said pair disposed over the upper exposed side of said visor and provided with a fiat upper surface for hat identifying indicia, an elongated helical spring connected at one end thereof with the other leg of said clip and means carried by said forward wall and projecting into said space connected within said space with the other end of said spring, said spring being longitudinally expanded and under tension for yieldably holding said clip on said visor and against said free edge and being automatically collapsible upon release of said clip from said visor to a position supporting said clip wholly within said space and above the head of said wearer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,153,611 Cavanagh Apr. 11, 1939 2,518,538 Giblin Aug. 15, 1950 2,522,719 Johnson Sept. 19, 1950 2,620,483 Reinhard Dec. 9, 1952 2,663,875 Hintsala Dec. 29, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 76,929 Norway May 30. 1950 

